Benannt, stop pointing out everything that is wrong with GTP, and start helping to make decisions and choices that will help the community as a whole. To fix this problem, we need more than 'agree-ers' - we need people who will go out of their way to make changes in the system.
That is our problem right now. We have too many "agree-ers" all agreeing that they can do what they wish out on the track and as long as they come say sorry here it's all ok. People post on and on about being clean and fair and what the GTP tag means yet very few actual drive that way (there are some, and they know who they are). The latest thing, now that we have divisions, is people saying they are in a different division than someone else - therefore they are slower/faster and it is all ok.
A few other people have pointed this out here as of late, mostly non-GTP members, but respected in the OLR community none-the-less (if not the racer, the board/team they come from), only to be shouted down by the "agree-ers" here that
they are wrong.
"I apologized! I race fair! I race clean! We all make mistakes! I'm in a different division than that guy!...blah blah blah" That is all you see here lately.
You know what?
That's is not good enough if we as a board/team want to be taken seriously out there in the racing community. Just because we are the biggest doesn't mean we are respeced by our size alone. it comes down to what each driver using a GTP_tag does on the track. If things continue the way they are currently the GTP_tag will be completely meaningless, it's already been chopped
down a few levels in many racer's eyes. There are multiple examples of this clear to see and I know there are many out there who see them. The OLR community is not that big.
So no...we don't need anymore agree-ers.
I've met a handful of racers in game and via the PSN have tried to help "teach" (if you can call it that) race etiquette and strategy. In the GT2/GT3/GT4 OLR days I was active in helping racers learn how to hotlap and educate on OLR rules. Back in those days, when I had more time to devote to this, I helped as much as I could where I could in the OLR community. I've been around the OLR community for many years and have learned from some of the best and tried to pass on the knowledge and skills I learned from those very fast guys repeatedly.
In more recent times I've also posted numerous times on this board with what I think is wrong in GT5p and the general GTP_tag system and how I think we can start fixing it. Yes, I've also posted multiple rants and whines about it too, but that was before I figured out that offering ideas on how to fix it was more effective.
No one seems to care and I'm not a moderator here so I can do nothing about it.
I do find it rather sad and disturbing that moderators here are beginning to get to the point where they are not racing online or throwing up their hands in disgust.
I give
Sphinx alot of credit for going out there and racing as much as he does, when he already has enough drama here to deal with. Look at how smoothly the GTP_registry went and how many times Sphinx had to answer the same questions over and over because people couldn't be bothered to look for the answer or even read half of the time. I give Sphinx more credit for that one too. Sadly that is a prime example of some of the problems we face here to help foster this community to OLR standards. Not to mention the vast differences in interest and skill levels. Not everyone is interested in really being apart of the OLR world and putting in the track time needed to do it, not everyone can, some people just want to go out and have some fun racing here and there. That is great but poses some issues in itself. In the old style OLR hotlap days it was fine, we never raced one another in real time, and those who did via LANs were hardcore about it and all knew each other and how to drive anyway so bad driving wasn't a huge issue.
As much as GT5p has been great for OLR and showing new people OLR rules it's been rough too in that we have so many new people racing out there there will be problems. That is fine, I think we all accept and understand that it will happen. Again the problem is the "agree-ers" letting standards slide and making a mockery of what the GTP_tag
should mean.
Lastly...
Why do I care so much? I enjoy racing and I like racing people I know and trust. When I came back to the GT series last spring, after almost 2 years away from the OLR world, I came back to the board I used to race with only to find it had been shut down long ago. I remembered GTP and came here because I remember it as
the place to find the best guys, the fast guys and the guys who really dig this game. There are a handful of other well known and long term OLR communities out there..but GTP was always the place I looked to for the right information and the guys who got things done (in contrast if anyone remembers GT3times and the messes over there you know what I mean). So when I came here and saw you could run a GTP_tag I took it serious and was honored to do it. Recently I've considered dropping the GTP_tag from my PSN ID but a friend of mine, who I have raced more than anyone else from here and trust more than anyone else on the track, talked me out of it.
I rant and rave so much about this lately because there are major problems out there right now with the OLR world, some caused by PD and their odd ways, some caused by GT5p being essentially a demo, but most from the general attitude of "
I'm sorry..." and all the "agree-ers"...but I care and would love to be able to enjoy racing online whenever I'm out there. Right now it is maybe 2/10 races and if you read this thread and others like it that seems to be about the average. When it was just the standard non-tagged racers out there causing issues, fine, nothing anyone can do about it (other than private rooms, but who knows if that will ever happen and you can pin your bets on that alone), but when the problems started being tagged racers (not just GTP drivers BTW, but the majority are GTP due to the size of this community) then we all can do something about that...